India likely to conduct Covid-19 vaccination dry run on Dec 28, 29

India is likely to conduct a dry run of a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive on December 28 and 29.

The trial run is proposed to be conducted in four states spread across the country -- Andhra Pradesh in the south, Assam in the east, Gujarat in the west and Punjab in the north, reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu.

"Punjab's districts of Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar have been selected for the dry run," he said in an official statement on Thursday.

Sidhu said the dry run is aimed at testing the laid-out mechanisms for the vaccination roll-out.

"It will provide insights into any gap or bottleneck so that those could be addressed before the commencement of the actual Covid-19 vaccination drive," Sidhu added.

The minister said immunisation partners, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health Organization, at state-level would support the dry run.